The Western Interdisciplinary Drone Laboratory

该NSERC RTI赠款的目标是在西部建立一个新的研究实验室，称为西部跨学科无人机实验室（WIDL）。所要求的设备将支持地球科学系的一名高级（Osinski）和三名初级（Goda，Molnar，Neish）教师以及校园内其他几名教师的研究计划。正如我们有2名男性（Osinski，Goda）和2名女性（Molnar，Neish）申请人的事实所证明的那样，团队组成的多样性是并将继续是建立研究团队专业知识的故意考虑因素。** 该设备将使尖端的新研究能够在广泛的主题范围内进行，重点关注以下4个领域：1）比较行星学，冰缘地貌学，灾后地震调查，前寒武纪地质学和地震小区带。此外，该设备还将支持其他教师在考古学，农作物病害检测，水文学和矿产勘探等领域的研究。这些不同的领域有一个共同的主题，即在偏远，难以接近和/或危险的环境中的实地科学。申请者要求的交叉产品包括数字高程模型（DEM）、高分辨率图像以及关于地表沉积物和岩石的成分信息。曾经依赖于“地面方法”的一种日益普遍的方法是远程收集数据，这是遥感领域迅速扩大的一个缩影。从历史上看，遥感需要使用卫星图像或从直升机和飞机上收集的空中调查，这是昂贵的，难以实时获取。由于最近的技术进步，小型无人驾驶飞行器（UAV）或无人机的开发和使用已经爆炸。无人机的使用将彻底改变申请人实地研究项目的数据收集方式。它们将允许实时收集低成本数据;快速进入对人和/或轮式车辆有危险的地点（例如，大规模滑坡、悬崖/峡谷、块状熔岩流等）;并且它们可以容易地在世界任何地方运输和使用。总之，这些轻型便携式平台以按需、低成本、可远程部署的平台提供现场的鸟瞰图。这里要求的设备包括能够快速覆盖大片区域的固定翼无人驾驶飞机和四轴飞行器，四轴飞行器具有更高的升力，可以携带更多的有效载荷，并具有更高的机动性，可以在低空测绘区域。要求的传感器包括可见光和多光谱相机以及激光雷达。除了代表在西方的研究范式转变，这种设备的收购将大大提高培训的质量和范围，为学生提供独特的新机会，接受遥感实践培训。

The goal of this NSERC RTI grant is to establish a new research laboratory at Western called the Western Interdisciplinary Drone Laboratory (WIDL). The requested equipment will support the research programs of one senior (Osinski) and three junior (Goda, Molnar, Neish) faculty in the Department of Earth Sciences as well as several others from across campus. As demonstrated by the fact that we have 2 male (Osinski, Goda) and 2 female (Molnar, Neish) applicants, diversity in team composition is, and will continue to be, an intentional consideration in building the expertise of the research team. ******This equipment will enable cutting-edge new research to be conducted, across a broad range of topics, with a focus on the following 4 areas: 1) comparative planetology, periglacial geomorphology, post-disaster earthquake surveys, Precambrian geology, and seismic microzonation. In addition, this equipment will also support research by other faculty members at Western in the areas of archaeology, crop disease detection, hydrology, and mineral exploration. These disparate fields have a common theme which is field science in often remote, inaccessible and/or dangerous environments. Cross-cutting products required by the applicants include digital elevation models (DEMs), high-resolution imagery, and compositional information on surface deposits and rocks.******Once reliant on a “boots on the ground approach”, an increasingly common method is to collect data remotely this epitomizes the rapidly expanding field of remote sensing. Historically, remote sensing has entailed the use of satellite imagery or airborne surveys collected from helicopters and airplanes, which is expensive and difficult to acquire in real-time. Due to recent technological advancements, there has been an explosion of the development and use of small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. The use of drones will revolutionize data collection for the applicants' field research programs. They will allow for the collection of low-cost data in real-time; quick access to sites where access is hazardous to people and/or wheeled vehicles (e.g., large-scale landslides, cliffs/gorges, blocky lava flows, etc.); and they can be easily transported and used anywhere in the world. In summary, these lightweight portable platforms provide a bird's eye view of a field site in an on-demand, low-cost, remotely deployable platform. The equipment requested here includes fixed-wing drones to enable rapid coverage of large areas, and quadcopters, which have higher lift capacity to carry additional payloads and have increased manoeuvrability for mapping areas at low altitudes. Requested sensors include visible and multispectral cameras, and LiDAR. In addition to representing a paradigm shift in research at Western, the acquisition of this equipment will significantly enhance the quality and extent of training by providing unique new opportunities for students to receive hands-on training in remote sensing.